Francis Bacon is charged
with investigating the murder of a fellow barrister at Gray's Inn. He
recruits his unwanted protégé Thomas Clarady to do the tiresome legwork.
The son of a privateer, Clarady will do anything to climb the
Elizabethan social ladder. Bacon's powerful uncle Lord Burghley suspects
Catholic conspirators of the crime, but other motives quickly emerge.
Rival barristers contend for the murdered man's legal honors and wealthy
clients. Highly-placed courtiers are implicated as the investigation
reaches from Whitehall to the London streets. Bacon does the thinking;
Clarady does the fencing. Everyone has something up his pinked and
padded sleeve. Even the brilliant Francis Bacon is at a loss — and in
danger — until he sees through the disguises of the season of Misrule.

An inventive new historical mystery, Anna Castle's foray into the scheme-filled world of power and politics with her first Francis Bacon mystery is sure to please fans of both genres. Murder by Misrule is by turns engaging, amusing, thrilling, and exciting. It's a well-plotted mystery that boasts a cast that is just as well defined; one that is easy to get involved in but hard to solve. The book comes in at just about 350 pages and it took nearly all of them for me to figure out the villain at the heart of it all.

Using the viewpoints of both real (Francis Bacon) and imagined people (Tom Clarady, etc.), Castle shares the narration of the story out amongst her cast. The story can feel a bit diluted with all the different perspectives, but each narrator does bring something new to the story. Clara, for example. seemed at first a random addition but her importance to the story is uncovered in due time. The third person POV feels pretty removed from the story despite whoever is telling it and it becomes easy to distinguish Tom from Francis or Caspar easily.I did struggle a bit with the writing at times. Castle has an even hand for characterization, setting, and plot but the dialogue used can be dry and a tad... obvious. It's a minor issue in the midst of everything one well, but the stiff manner in which the characters think and interact was a bit off-putting for me.I also have to mention the awesome twist Castle unveils three-quarters into the novel --- it was wholly a surprise, but Castle both hints at it and sells it once the cards are on the table.The first in a series, Anna Castle's debut is a tautly plotted, creatively managed mystery. The historical element works well for both her writing and her characters. The research put into the story is obvious and is reflected in so much of the narrative. If you're looking for something along the lines of C.W. Gortner's Spymaster Chronicles series, then you'll likely find Murder by Misrule to be a good fit for your reading tastes.